BUNKER HILL — Grissom Air Reserve Base would lose four part-time drilling reservist positions and nine full-time spots if changes to the structure of the Air Force are approved by the White House this year.
The full-time cuts would come from both Air Reserve technicians and civilian employees, but the specific positions have yet to be determined, said Tech Sgt. Mark Orders-Woempner, a public affairs officer with the 434th Air Refueling Wing.
The Air Force Reserve announced Tuesday about 3,000 job changes and a reduction of 9,900 airmen in fiscal year 2013, which starts this October. The reductions are to include 900 Air Force reservists, 3,900 active-duty airmen and 5,100 Air National Guard airmen.
“We expect to lower the majority of our manning numbers through normal attrition and reduced recruiting accessions,” Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner Jr., chief of Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon, said in a news release. “As we do this, we’re realigning our people into the missions that we expect to endure or be new areas of growth in the future.”
Before the planned Air Force restructuring can take place, however, the 2013 federal budget must be approved by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Orders-Woempner said if the positions were cut through attrition, no one would lose a job at the air base.
“We are not aware of any individual specifically who will lose their job, and we have the highest hopes no one will,” he said.
Grissom employs 700 Department of Defense and contracted workers and 1,500 drilling reservists, he said.
The shake-up is part of a federal mandate requiring the Department of Defense to cut $487 billion from its budget in the next 10 years.
The Air Force is set to cut about $54 billion, and Air Force officials say they plan to slash $8.7 billion in fiscal year 2013.